We are revisiting my fine review of PRIDE in celebration of its release onto Blu Ray, DVD and DIG this week – this was one of my favourite movies of 2014 and I cannot wait to see it again with the parental units and to own my own copy – this is must see viewing people! With huge thanks to our besties at eOneANZ we have 3x copies on Blu Ray up for grabs, revisit (or read for the first time) my review and find out how to win down below! All the best and good luck……….JK.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM NOVEMBER 2, 2014

PRIDE is a movie I have missed at festivals, media screenings and anything that popped up pre-release due to illness or other commitments. It is one of my most anticipated films of the year for a few reasons (gay theme, Bill Nighy, heartwarming and George MacKay). The trailer just melted me the first time I saw it. I had already pre-judged this film before entering the cinema, I would love it and it would be awesome. The good news is that it’s not just me, including me every single person in the packed out session loved this movie. There were many laughs, many tears, maybe a cheer and even a wee clap, and this was just from me! This film is a sensational marvel and will be in my top films of the year. It is out now from eOneANZ, it is rated M and runs for exactly two hours. 

 

 

REVIEW BY JASON KING

The setting is Onllwyn, a small mining village in Wales, the time is 1984 and this is based on a true story. Mark and his motley crew of gays and lesbians are activists, they fight for right, live in a world of 80s gay with Bronski Beat and underground gay clubs and Mark is watching the plight of the miners and has an epiphany, what is their difference to the struggle of the gays? They are getting beaten by the police, they are being incredibly judged by the world and are considered scum for them fighting for what is right, for going against the grain, a grain that would see towns die throughout the country. They start fundraising with a a group they form called LGSM – Lesbians and Gays Supporting Miners and they make some decent coin. As such they start calling miner’s groups and it all falls flat, no one returns their calls, people hang up on them and then Mark has his next epiphany, just call one of the mining towns and see if they can help and so he places a call to Onllwyn and gets answered by the slowest, oldest person in the town.

What happens next is colliding cultures of minority groups who are closer in their cause than each of them can understand. They both have their struggles and by coming together are stronger in their unity. It isn’t easy, not everyone wants to partner with the gays, especially in the dawn of AIDS. But a cause and a cause on the right path is more than raising money and carrying banners, it is about solidarity and meeting new people, people who are more than what you can imagine them to be.

 

 

And this is the huge success of this movie, it is the clashing of cultures and seeing them unite in bad times to better humanity, it should not be overlooked, these people literally made history through their unity. It also helps that the gays are all so adorable :). Their leader, Mark (Ben Schnetzer) is gorgeous, and passionate and a die hard fighter for a cause. He is determined to make this happen and not afraid of stepping out of the comfort zone. LGSM ends up in Onllwyn and both worlds change. The motley crew of gays, and one lesbian are all awesome, you will immediately fall in love with all of them.

Being a true story there is a lot to fit in. Andrew Scott is Gethin, the owner of the gay book store and also the only member of LGSM who is actually Welsh, his small side story appears a bit out of kilter with the story but it also adds to the kindness and mending of worlds through solidarity. And the film also moves between plights, the plight of the miners is a good two thirds of the film but constantly in the background is the plight of the gays, and the last third of the film moves towards the plight of the gays, this was the hardest for me to deal with, it was the time I was going through my discovery and coming out – Joe (George MacKay) was the person I related to – I was 13 and starting high school when this all happened, being gay was bloody hard, but at least we, or at my age, I, was not being surrounded by the AIDS disaster, the first gay man I knew, who was a hostie on QANTAS, died, he was a family friend, and this was the first time it hit my world. LGSM was fighting a struggle for others, while a new disaster was forming in their own world, if anyone needed support it was the LGSM.

 

 

Not sure where director Matthew Warchus has been hiding since he directed SIMPATICO in 1999. But he is back, and what a beautiful film to come back for and to forever be known for. He juggles a lot into this move but does it exceptionally and still delivers the feel good movie of 2014. His cast is massive and also sublime. Schnetzer is brilliant, as is MacKay, the big names of Bill Nighy, Dominic West and Paddy Considine all give exceptional understated performances that enhance as opposed to hinder the leads and for the first time I can say I love seeing Imelda Staunton on-screen and that I have finally let go of my hatred for Dolores Umbridge and forgiven her 🙂 She is one of the starts of this movie – just sensational. The rest of the cast are all brilliant, there is just so many of them to list – but I must give a special mention to Sian played by Jessica Gunning, she was so strong and besides the worst hair of the year on film, she stood out in this film as one of the best performances.

This is 2014’s Billy Elliot, it is the feel good movie of the year and feels like a giant hug of goodness, I will own this on Blu Ray and will be trying to take my parents to it. There is nothing to flaw.

 

 

 

With special thanks to eOneANZ to win one of the 3X BLU RAYs of PRIDE you need to either like and share/ retweet this post on Facebook/Twitter/ Google+/ Pinterest/ LinkedIn/ Flipboard or Instagram (all the links to follow us are on the top right of homepage), you then need to leave a comment below stating the answer/s to the following questions:

What is your favourite gay themed movie and why? I actually have a Top 25 – HERE – but my all time favourite is A BEAUTIFUL THING – my list gets updated every year and this year the movie BOYS will be added to it.

If you do not have social media then get with the times – you can still enter, leave your entry below and email me at jking@saltypopcorn.com.au telling me you don’t have social media (you still need to enter on the website).

Prizes will no longer be awarded to first in first served. It will now be a game of skill and selected purely on the thoughts of the judges, said judges being the Salty Kernels.

The prizes will be sent after MAR 15th! Good luck! Oh, and minor housekeeping – huge apologies for overseas readers, this competition is only available to Australian residents.